salesman
nounEtymology From sales + -man.
1
A man whose job it is to sell things, either in a shop / store or elsewhere.
- There was an auto salesman in here yesterday that claimed you could always tell a fellow's class by the car he drove, but I says to him, 'Don't be silly,' I says; 'the wisenheimers grab a look at a fellow's nails when they want to tell if he's a tin-horn or a real gent!"'1922, Sinclair Lewis, “24”, in Babbitt:
- Would you say it was fair to describe these salesmen that were in your crews as dynamiters, or suede shoe salesmen?1954, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Banking and Currency. Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs, FHA Investigation: Hearings, page 2397:
- Derived terms
- door-to-door salesman, inside salesman, nonsalesman, salesmanish, salesmanlike, salesmanly, salesmanship, snake oil salesman, suede-shoe salesman, supersalesman, supersalesmanship, telesalesman, travelling salesman, travelling salesman problem, unsalesmanlike
- Hypernyms
- salesperson, seller, vendor